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Task orientation, parental warmth and SES account for a significant proportion of the shared environmental variance in general cognitive ability in early childhood: evidence from a twin study
Author(s) -
Petrill Stephen A.,
DeaterDeckard Kirby
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
developmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.801
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1467-7687
pISSN - 1363-755X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2004.00319.x
Subject(s) - psychology , orientation (vector space) , cognition , developmental psychology , variance (accounting) , task (project management) , twin study , cognitive psychology , future orientation , cognitive development , social psychology , geometry , mathematics , accounting , management , heritability , neuroscience , biology , economics , business , genetics
Prior research suggests shared environmental influences on cognitive performance are important in early childhood. However, few studies have attempted to identify the factors comprising this shared environmental variance. To address this issue, we examined the covariance between task orientation, parental warmth, socioeconomic status and general cognitive ability in a British twin study of 125 pairs of identical and same‐sex fraternal twins. Task orientation correlated r = . 41 with general cognitive ability. Bivariate genetic analyses suggested that this correlation was mediated by shared environmental influences. Additional analyses suggested that SES and parental warmth mediated about two‐thirds of the shared environmental covariance between task engagement and cognitive skills .